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32 dead in mosque Pakaboom
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday: June 6th.

Nathan Hale - died 1776 (21)

Maria Montez - died 1951 (39) "María África Gracia Vidal"

Roy Innis - 71 "National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality" (Now)

Sandra Bernhard - 54 "Left Wing Dirt Bag" (Now)

Paul Giamatti - 44 "Sideways - John Adams" (Now)

***NSFW***
Gianna Michaels - 26 "Adult Entertainer" (Now)

***NSFW***
Shannon Stewart - 25 "Runner up on the 1st cycle of America's Next Top Model" (Now)

On this day in history: June 6th.
1833 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride a train.
1882 – More than 100,000 inhabitants of Bombay are killed as a cyclone in the Arabian Sea pushes huge waves into the harbour.
1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroys the entirety of downtown Seattle, Washington.
1918 – Battle of Belleau Wood – The U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Chateau-Thierry.
1925 – The Chrysler Corporation is founded by Walter Percy Chrysler.
1932 – The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States, at a rate of 1 cent per US gallon.
1933 – The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey, United States.
1942 – Battle of Midway. U.S. Navy dive bombers sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma.
1944 – Battle of Normandy begins. D-Day, code named Operation Overlord, commences with the landing of 155,000 Allied troops on the beaches of Normandy in France. The allied soldiers quickly break through the Atlantic Wall and push inland in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
1968 – Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws his record 58th consecutive scoreless inning, a major league record until 1988.
1968 – Senator Robert F. Kennedy dies from his wounds after he was shot the previous night.
1982 – Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
2005 – The United States Supreme Court upholds a federal law banning marijuana, including medical marijuana, in Gonzales v. Raich.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/06/2009 1:11 Comments || Top||


#3  GB, you should have put a warning on Sandra Bernhard's pic. She's so ugly she's not safe anywhere.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 06/06/2009 12:13 Comments || Top||

#4  My day was going great, dunkin donuts, coffee, a planned trip to the range, and a little Rantburg. But as I surfed through the Gam and birthday shots to appreciate the finer things in life I was traumatized, almost blinded by that ugly left wing nazi skumbag. Got Dam GB ya gotta put a Puke warning on pictures like that! Almost chucked my donuts and coffee on the keyboard! I had to stay on the Shannon pic to settle my nerves. LOL

Is it me or does the Skum Bernhard look like Wilem Dafoe. No disrespect to Dafoe intended of course...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 06/06/2009 12:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Mom named our dog "Phydeaux" (Fido in faux french) now I wonder where she got the idea?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/06/2009 12:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Sandra Bernhard looks like she could star in a Geico commercial.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/06/2009 15:29 Comments || Top||

#7  PS, I prefer the older pictures when a lot was left to the imagination.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/06/2009 19:38 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Suicide bomber targets Spin Boldak bus station
A SUICIDE bomb rocked an Afghan town bordering Pakistan, killing four people, as insurgency-linked unrest claimed the lives of another 13, including a foreign soldier.

The suicide blast, detonated by a man on a bomb-filled motorbike, tore through a busy bus station in the southern town of Spin Boldak, police said.

"Including the suspect, five were killed and eight were wounded," said the Kandahar province border police chief, Jawad Ahmad.

However, the interior ministry said three people - a man, a woman and a child - were killed in the suicide attack, without explaining the discrepancy.

Eleven were wounded, including five children, the ministry said, adding that the device had exploded before the bomber reached his target.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but militants allied to the extremist Taliban militia, which has carried out scores of suicide attacks, are active in southern Afghanistan and across the border in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, a soldier in a NATO-led force operating against Taliban insurgents was killed in a "hostile incident", the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that gave no further details.

It did not give the nationality of the dead soldier or details of the incident. Most of the troops in the south are Americans, British or Canadians.

Elsewhere, Taliban militants ambushed a private security company in the southwestern province of Nimroz, killing three armed guards and wounding one, provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad said.

"The Afghan army and US-led coalition forces went to the area for their support and killed three Taliban and wounded five," he said.

There has been a spate of deadly insurgent attacks recently on convoys that ferry goods across the country, including to bases of the nearly 70,000 foreign troops deployed to help the Afghan Government.

Afghan and US-led coalition forces killed two "opposition commanders" in the southern province of Kandahar on Friday, the interior ministry said in a statement that did not give details of the men.
Another four militants were killed in incidents in Farah province in the south and Paktika in the east, officials said.

Attacks and battles have surged in recent weeks as troops try to clamp down on insurgents ahead of August 20 elections and after the extremists vowed to step up their campaign.

There are fears the violence will disrupt the elections, an important test for international efforts to bring democracy to Afghanistan.

The Taliban were in government for five years until 2001, when they were toppled in a US-led invasion weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States, blamed on the al-Qaeda network, which had bases in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Oztralian || 06/06/2009 20:13 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Pentagon Quietly Sending 1,000 Special Operators to Afghanistan in Strategy Revamp
The Pentagon is sending 1,000 more special operations forces and support staff into Afghanistan to bolster a larger conventional troop buildup, and is revamping the way Army Green Berets and other commandos work to rid villages of the Taliban.

While much of the public focus has been on 24,000 additional American troops moving into the country this year, U.S. Special Operations Command is quietly increasing its covert warriors in what could be a pivotal role in finally defeating insurgents, military sources tell FOXNews.com.
Look over here, watch what the hand with the magic wand is doing...not the other hand over there.

Happy hunting, gentlemen!
The movement comes as Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a special operator who led successful manhunts in Iraq for Al Qaeda terrorists, is about to take command in Afghanistan.
Very happy hunting...
McChrystal, who underwent a Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing Tuesday, is expected to put more emphasis on using commandos in counterinsurgency operations and on finding or killing key Taliban leaders.
Posted by: ed || 06/06/2009 08:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess there will be more, things that go bump in the night. Too bad they can't send a bunch of ROK commandos over to A'stan.
Posted by: Bob Omainter5418 || 06/06/2009 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  FTA. "The increase in special operations forces is an attempt to rebalance commando presence there, after the demands of the Iraq War stripped some of its manpower in Afghanistan. The influx will bring the total special operations forces in Afghanistan to about 5,000, a spokesman at special operations command confirmed to FOXNews.com."

The only ones surprised about this is the press. They are also surprised that there is more "violence" (mostly to Taliban) with the increase in troops in theater.
Posted by: tipover || 06/06/2009 11:33 Comments || Top||

#3  "Over there is Captain Johnson, disguised like a donkey, the street urchin is SFC Davis, and the rather stinky blind leper begging over there is the Major. You'll be wanting to talk to him."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/06/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#4  That's too funny. Bet they're sweet and tender in hooligan kind of way
Posted by: Girlthursday || 06/06/2009 16:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Couple Indicted on Charges of Spying for Cuba
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department charged Friday that a former State Department analyst and his wife worked as spies for Cuba for nearly 30 years, using a short-wave radio to pass on secret diplomatic information to their Cuban handlers.

Officials said the couple, Walter K. Myers, 72, and Gwendolyn S. Myers, 71, received little in the way of compensation from the Cubans except for the short-wave radio and some travel expenses. Rather, the officials said, the couple appears to have been driven by their strong affinity for Cuba and their bitterness toward “American imperialism.”

“We think they did it because they love Cuba,” said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.
Now they can spend the rest of their days in a Federal pen ...
The Myerses, who live in Washington, were arrested on Thursday and charged in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday with serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government and wire fraud. A defense lawyer declined to comment on the charges.

The case had been under investigation for three years but intensified two months ago, when an undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, posing as a Cuban agent, approached Mr. Myers. That led to a series of meetings in which the Justice Department said that Mr. Myers and his wife made incriminating admissions about their decades-long work for Cuba.

Mr. Myers began working as a contract instructor at the State Department in 1977 and rose to the position of senior analyst with top-secret security clearance, specializing in European affairs. He retired from the department in 2007.

In the indictment, the Justice Department said that Mr. Myers examined some 200 intelligence reports that dealt with Cuba in 2006 and 2007, many of them classified or top-secret reports that were unrelated to his own duties at the State Department. While some of the material that the government says the Myerses passed on to Cuba apparently related to State Department personnel and internal policy matters, the indictment does not detail the bulk of the material or the sensitivity of it.

David Kris, the assistant attorney general for national security at the Justice Department, called the Myerses’ activity for Cuba “incredibly serious.”

The indictment and the government’s supporting material say the Myerses were recruited as spies during an academic trip to Cuba in 1978.

In a diary entry that the Justice Department said Mr. Myers wrote at the time of the trip, he expressed his passion for Cuba and its Communist revolutionary goals and his distaste for “American imperialism” and the United States’ indifference to medical care, the poor and other basic public needs. “Cuba is so exciting!” he wrote, adding that “the revolution has released enormous potential and liberated the Cuban spirit.”
Then he went home and got to work inside the State Department. He was a classic mole ...
The government alleged that soon after their return to the United States, the Myerses began using Morse code, encrypted messages and the short-wave radio to pass sensitive diplomatic information to Havana. They met Fidel Castro on a clandestine trip to Cuba in 1995 and made trips over the years to meet Cuban contacts in Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Jamaica, the government charged.

It appears from government documents that suspicions among American counterintelligence officials about a possible security leak within the State Department first led the authorities to focus on Mr. Myers two or three years ago.

This April, an undercover agent from the F.B.I., posing as a Cuban official, approached Mr. Myers outside the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, where he taught. The agent said he had instructions to contact him concerning the thawing diplomatic changes in the air between Cuba and the United States. The agent offered Mr. Myers a cigar and wished him a happy birthday.

The agent directed Mr. Myers to search out State Department information about Cuba, and at one in a series of follow-up meetings, Mr. Myers and his wife told the agent that they hoped to “sail home” to Cuba some day on their sailboat, the government said. The couple also expressed some mixed emotions, saying that they were “burned out” by their clandestine activity yet wanted to continue to help Cubans because of their strong ties.

“It’s forever,” the affidavit quoted Mr. Myers as telling the agent. “You know, it’s like Fidel. It’s forever.”
Posted by: Steve White || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  why didn't they move too cuba
Posted by: funky skunk || 06/06/2009 10:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Now now, Skunk, it's easier to support the revolution when you're comfortable in the States ...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/06/2009 10:35 Comments || Top||

#3  "We think they did it because they love Cuba,"

Send them to Gitmo...
Posted by: Raj || 06/06/2009 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, if I made a trip to Cuba, I would never get a security clearance.
This guy tours there and nobody raises an eyebrow?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/06/2009 12:07 Comments || Top||

#5  In 2006 Myers made a very high profile statement trashing the US relationship with the UK. The fallout has been considerable:
wikipedia
In November 2006, Myers created controversy by describing the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom a "one sided" "myth".[7][8] He said that he was "ashamed" of the treatment by US President George W. Bush toward Prime Minister Tony Blair.[8] In response, UK MP Denis MacShane said, "After the Republican defeat in the midterm election, every little rat who feasted during the Bush years is now leaving the ship. I would respect this gentleman, who I have never heard of, if he had had the guts to make any of these points two or five years ago."[8] The US State Department distanced itself from Myers comments, stating, "He was speaking as an academic, not as a representative of the State Department."

Original '06 story from The Telegraph (Posted here at Rantburg late yesterday)
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 06/06/2009 12:26 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder if they were political contributors, and what candidates they might have given money to.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/06/2009 13:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Good news: A aging pair of careless, Cubana chomping amateur espionage agents have been discovered and arrested.

Bad news: No one knows how many PROFESSIONAL hostile intelligence sleeper agents remain in Washington.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/06/2009 13:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Obama, Barack MYERS, WALTER
ASHBURN,VA 20147 NOT EMPLOYED/RETIRED 7/25/08 $250

"OK, then, Charges dropped, you are free to go."
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 06/06/2009 19:54 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Militant ambush kills 2 Taliban-linked prisoners
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The Pakistani military says militants ambushed a prison convoy and accidentally killed two aides to a cleric linked to the Taliban in the Swat Valley.
ROTFLMAO!
An army statement says the convoy had been carrying prisoners from Sakhakot town near Swat to Peshawar early Saturday when it was hit by a roadside bomb and gunfire from suspected militants.
ROTFLMAO!
One soldier and two prisoners were killed.
Bummer about the soldier. I hope he plugged both of the aides in the back of the head. Now back to ROTFLMAO!
Muhammad Alam and Ameer Izzat were aides to Islamist cleric Sufi Muhammad who negotiated a peace deal with the government that gave the Taliban control of the Swat Valley. But the deal collapsed earlier this year when the Taliban advanced into neighboring districts, triggering a major military offensive.
Now where should I send my GPS-tagged condolences card?
Posted by: gorb || 06/06/2009 02:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Own Goal!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/06/2009 8:04 Comments || Top||

#2  they may have meant too kill them so they might not give up info
Posted by: funky skunk || 06/06/2009 10:12 Comments || Top||

#3  either way it's 2 more dead
Posted by: funky skunk || 06/06/2009 10:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Memo to Army General Staff:

RE: Use of Local Clerical Staff to Support Convoy Scout Activities
Posted by: Skunky Glins 5*** || 06/06/2009 20:14 Comments || Top||


Warrants issued for Mumbai attacks suspect
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday issued warrants for the arrest of a suspected terrorist involved in the Mumbai attacks, sources learnt. A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) inspector told the ATC that Muhammad Khan, a resident of Turbat in Balochistan, had allegedly provided a boat to the terrorists to reach Mumbai, sources said. The inspector had sought an arrest warrant for the accused who is wanted by the FIA for investigation. The ATC is already trying five suspects, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, a resident of Islamabad; Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah of Sheikupura; Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al-Qama of Islamabad; Shahid Jamil Riaz of Nasirabad, Bahawalpur; and Hammad Amin Sadiq of Rahimyar Khan, at the Adiala Jail for their alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


India arrests close 'aide' of Hafiz Saeed
Indian police have arrested a suspected militant with alleged links to Hafiz Saeed, who is blamed for plotting the Mumbai attacks, a minister said on Friday.

Muhammad Omar Madni was picked up by police in New Delhi on Thursday, Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters. He said the suspect was an aide to Saeed, head of the Jamaatud Dawa and a founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba group that New Delhi blames for the attacks on Mumbai last year. "The man arrested does have links with Hafiz Saeed," Chidambaram said, adding the operation to arrest him was the result of "good intelligence and good investigative work". A diary, a Nepali driving licence, an identity card, Rs 8,000 in fake Nepalese currency and $8,000 were found in Madni's possession. Meanwhile, Dawa spokesman Yahya Mujahid said the group did not have any links with Madni, a private TV channel reported.
This article starring:
HAFIZ SAIDLashkar-e-Taiba
MUHAMAD OMAR MADNILashkar-e-Taiba
YAHYA MUJAHIDLashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1 
Posted by: john frum || 06/06/2009 18:40 Comments || Top||


Army orders Swat evacuation, civilians flee
[Iran Press TV Latest] The civilians in Pakistan's northwestern troubled valley of Swat streamed out of their homes following evacuation orders from Islamabad's troops. Military helicopters dropped leaflets overnight and advised residents to leave several villages within five kilometers of Swat's main town of Mingora.

The government says it is easing curfew conditions in the center of the valley so the civilians can flee the militant-riddled areas. Special buses were said to have been arranged on Friday to transport people to government-run camps in the neighboring districts.

The UN estimates nearly 126,000 people fleeing the fighting in the troubled northwest every day.

The clashes in Swat have pushed millions of terrified civilians into camps set up in various parts of the North West Frontier Province since May 2. More than three million internally displaced people are now residing in temporary camps in the country's northwest.

The massive displacement is Pakistan's biggest movement of people since the country secured independence from Britain in 1947.

The recent decision for evacuation comes following reports that militants fleeing Mingora were now hiding in the villages, according to government sources. Last Saturday, the army said its troops had asserted control over Mingora after a month-long operation. Yet the Pakistani army is still being challenged by the militants on the outskirts of Mingora.

Security forces initiated the offensive against the militants in late April after they lost the Buner district near the capital Islamabad. The Swat valley is a strategic post lying less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Islamabad. Pakistan's army now says it could take several months to clear Swat from the insurgents who have long thrived in the troubled valley.

UN has warned against a developing humanitarian crises and the spread of diseases among the internally displaced people (IDPs) at the refugee camps.
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Three foreign terrorists held in Bajaur Agency
[Geo News] Three Afghan terrorists have been arrested during checking at a checkpost in Bajaur Agency here on Friday while forces also claimed seizing heavy weaponry and literature drafted for propaganda from their possession, Geo news reported. According to sources, three arrested terrorists were returning to Bajaur Agency having carried out successful terrorists attacks in Medan when they were nabbed during checking by security forces at Ali Zai checkpost located in Khar area of Agency. According to details of the seized material, the forces recovered different types of jackets, commando uniform, fake Pakistani currency, propaganda literature including audiocassettes, maps of Bajaur Agency and Dir, rocket bombs, formulae of remote control bombs and mobile phone SIMs.
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Two blasts in DI Khan, woman injured
[Geo News] DERA ISMAEL KHAN: A woman sustained injuries as two separate explosions occurred here on Friday, Geo news reported. According to police sources, first explosion took place when unknown militants hurled a hand grenade at a house in Kumharrawala area leaving a woman injured who was later identified as Azra. The second explosion occurred as explosive material went off which was planted outside an electronics shop located in Masgaran market which partially damaged Geo news office while the shop was completely destroyed but no loss of life was reported, sources said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Plotter of Imam Bargah blast held in Multan
[Geo News] The law enforcement agencies have claimed nabbing from Muzzafarabad area in Multan, the alleged plotter of a bomb blast, which occurred outside Imam Bargah in Dera Ismel Khan, sources said on Friday. According to police sources, heavy contingent of Multan police and intelligence agencies raided on a house arresting an associate of banned religious outfit whose name was not disclosed. The arrested offender is accused of plotting and carrying out bomb blast on February 5 outside Imam Bargah in Dera Ismael Khan, sources revealed. Agencies have moved him to undisclosed place for investigation, sources added.
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Suicide bomber kills 32 in mosque Pakaboom
[Al Arabiya Latest] A suicide bomber ripped through a mosque packed with worshippers in northwest Pakistan Friday, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens more in the deadliest such attack in more than two months.

The bomb exploded at the mosque in the remote, mountainous village of Hayagai Sharqai in Upper Dir, which borders the district of Swat where the military has focused its blistering air and ground assault against the Taliban.

Police said the bomb attack occurred during weekly Muslim prayers, which convene Friday afternoon and generally see mosques packed with worshippers.

Umer Rehman, a resident of Hayagai village, around 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Islamabad, said 30 bodies had been identified.

"A large number of body parts are scattered in the mosque. We don't know whether these are parts of the dead who have been identified or of others."

"The building was severely damaged. People are still trapped under the rubble. Local people are engaged in rescue work and police teams have been rushed to the area," said police official Ataullah Khan.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but there has been a surge of bombings in towns of North West Frontier Province since the military assault began.

Bombs regularly target mosques in Pakistan, where more than 1,900 people have been killed in a wave of extremist bombings across the country since government troops besieged gunmen in a radical Islamabad mosque in July 2007.

On March 27, a suicide bomber in Jamrud, also in northwest Pakistan, killed about 50 people in one of the deadliest such mosque attacks at Friday prayers.
Posted by: Fred || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  Sunni? Shi'ite? Red on crimson?
Posted by: Ulimble Panda7994 || 06/06/2009 13:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Insurgents Increasingly Use Teenagers in Iraq Attacks Against Security Forces
BAGHDAD — Insurgents are increasingly using teenagers to stage attacks against American and Iraqi security forces, the U.S. military said Saturday.

At least five suspects ages 14 to 19 have been involved in grenade and suicide attacks in recent weeks in northern Iraq, according to the statement.

The military has frequently said it believes Al Qaeda in Iraq and other insurgent groups are recruiting children and women because of their ability to avoid scrutiny and evade heightened security measures.

But Saturday's statement was the first to provide detailed allegations of specific teenage attackers in what the military called "a growing trend of children carrying out attacks on Iraqi security and U.S. forces."

It said a teenage boy threw a grenade at a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in Hawijah, west of the disputed northern city of Kirkuk, on Thursday, then fled the scene when it failed to detonate.

Nobody was harmed in that attack. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate grenade attacks elsewhere in the area on Thursday, although it was not known who was responsible for the incidents.

The Thursday attack by the teenager came days after a 15-year-old boy lobbed a grenade at another U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the same city. One vehicle was damaged and the boy was captured, the military said.

A boy between the ages of 14 to 16 threw a grenade at a joint convoy of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi police in Hawijah on May 26, but no injuries or damage were reported, according to the statement.

The military also said a boy as young as 14 was the driver in a suicide car bombing that killed five Iraqi policemen in Kirkuk on May 12.

Also in the oil-rich city, 19-year-old man was arrested by Iraqi police while trying to detonate a suicide vest at a Shiite mosque on May 1, the statement said.

The militant groups are trying to take advantage of the fact "that children do not draw as much attention and soldiers do not want to harm them," U.S. officers said.

Four alleged members of a group known to recruit children were arrested on April 14, the military said.

Children that are hurt while carrying out insurgent activities are also being used in insurgent propaganda campaigns, the military said.

The United Nations also has expressed concern that rising numbers of Iraqi youths have been recruited into militias and insurgent groups, including some serving as suicide bombers. It called them "silent victims of the continued violence." There have also been several recent suicide bombings by women.

The U.S. military released several videos last year seized from suspected Al Qaeda in Iraq hideouts that showed militants training children who appeared as young as 10 to kidnap and kill. Children have also been used as decoys in Iraq.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/06/2009 09:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This wouldn't happen if the speedo and bikini were the national costume of Iraq. A Cargo Cult religion (and fashions) would definitely be a step up on the evolutionary ladder.
Posted by: ed || 06/06/2009 10:00 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran amassed 1,359 kilos of low-enriched uranium: IAEA
VIENNA - Iran is still defying the UN Security Council and has so far amassed 1,359 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the UN atomic watchdog said Friday. Estimates vary, but analysts calculate that anywhere between 1,000-1,700 kilogrammes of low-enriched uranium would be needed to convert it into highly-enriched uranium suitable to make a single atomic bomb.

“Iran has estimated, that between November 18, 2008 and May 31, 2009 ... a total 500 kilogrammes of low-enriched UF6 was produced” at its enrichment plant in Natanz, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a restricted report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Prior to that, Iran had already amassed 839 kilos of low-enriched UF6. Commenting on this increase, a senior official close to the IAEA said that “most of it can be attributed to the number of additional [centrifuge] machines.”

In his latest report issued to IAEA member states, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said that as of May 31, Iran had 4,920 uranium enrichment centrifuges running, up from 3,936 such machines operating in February. An additional 2,301 centrifuges have been installed but are not yet in operation.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/06/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  How much Uranium is needed to run their nuclear reactor(s) for peaceful purposes?
Posted by: gorb || 06/06/2009 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > IAEA: MORE NUCLEAR TRACES FOUND IN SYRIA.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/06/2009 1:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Its so funny how the world freaks out about this ? Is this even news and why? HOW MUCH ENRICHED URANIUM DOES THE US HAVE?
what about other countries .Israel? pakistan china? India ..why is that ok? If you destroy your enemies ..your friends will will become them

Posted by: Theallseeingeye || 06/06/2009 3:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Re: thenoneseeingeye,

You are not very lucid today are you?
Posted by: Whosh Scourge of the Hatfields1808 || 06/06/2009 4:47 Comments || Top||

#5  To be pedantic, low enriched Uranium is what is used in "peaceful" reactors for power generation [whisper] and for Plutonium generation, too.[/whisper] Anything between 5% and 90% (weapons grade) is low enriched. Enough to sustain a chain reaction, not enough to go BOOM!!!!
[/pedant]

"I know everything, you don't even have to ask."
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/06/2009 9:28 Comments || Top||

#6  That's only from the centrifuges Iran has declared.
Posted by: ed || 06/06/2009 9:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Its so funny how the world freaks out about this ? Is this even news and why?

Probably because Iran is a theocratic oligarchy (I've go so far as to say kleptocracy) and a global loose-cannon?

HOW MUCH ENRICHED URANIUM DOES THE US HAVE?

Enough.

what about other countries .Israel? pakistan china? India ..why is that ok?

With the exception of perhaps Pakistan, none of the other nations have are pathologically-inclined to remove another nation and its people off the globe because they're Jewish. I exclude Hamas and Hesb'allah; they're only murderous rabble.

If you destroy your enemies ..your friends will will become them

There are no 'friends' between nations. There are only coinciding interests.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/06/2009 13:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Low enriched uranium sounds like no big deal, but it is. If you can enrich to 5%, then you can enrich it highly enough to make a bomb. Just run the centrifuges longer.

More significantly, the enrichment process gets faster as you go. The first 5% tales by far the longest.
Posted by: Iblis || 06/06/2009 16:07 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Binny in trouble?
For once, however, the most interesting aspect about the statement is not what it says, but how it surfaced. While most statements by AQ Central in recent years have been posted directly on the Internet, this one was distributed “the old way”, in a physical copy delivered by courier to al-Jazeera. As of 2pm EST, the statement has not yet appeared on the forums. Moreover, the absence of references to recent events suggests the tape was recorded several weeks ago. Finally the length of the tape is reportedly only around four minutes, which is unusually short. In all these respects, the latest tape differs from UBL’s three previous statements this year, on Gaza in January and on Gaza and Somalia in March.

What we have here is a short, outdated tape delivered manually following a series of longer, up-to-date statements distributed online. This suggests to me that Bin Ladin’s personal situation has changed in the past few months. He may have moved to a new location, and/or he is taking much stricter security precautions than before.

By contrast, today’s statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri was completely different. It was distributed “the usual way” on the forums, it was longer (11 minutes), and it was tailored in content and timing for Obama’s arrival in the region. Al-Zawahiri declared Obama unwelcome in Egypt and argued that the current president’s policies, especially toward Israel, are no better than those of his predecessors. For a transcript, see here.

The differences between the two statements suggest first of all that Bin Ladin and al-Zawahiri are not in the same physical location. Moreover, Bin Ladin’s situation clearly lends itself more badly to media production than that of al-Zawahiri.

We should of course be careful not to overinterpret individual messages like this, especially since there have been occasional aberrations to established distribution patterns in the past. But – at the risk of sounding like the 43rd president - my gut tells me this is quite significant.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/06/2009 16:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Why aren't we jamming communiques from bin laden?

How hard is it to fake bin laden tapes telling muslims to do crazy things like wear bright clothing with flowers and big hats to impress allah?

Enough crazy noise and people will stop listening to him.
Posted by: flash91 || 06/06/2009 22:18 Comments || Top||



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Wed 2009-06-03
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